Landlords 5 year Electricity check

[EFLImpudence]

Sorry I changed my mind and edited.

 

[AndyPRK]

Best not draw attention to it !

I wouldn't go adding an wood trim round the CU until after their report. They may want to change the CU, and it may end up bigger

 

[conny]

The feed from the house socket is 3 x 10mm singles, (off cuts from the 10mm swa I imagine), to a plastic connection box outside which houses a connector strip. The 10mm swa and the 4mm swa are connected to this connector strip and then go their separate ways. The house sockets are a ring protected by a 32A MCB in the house CU

 

[ericmark]

Tell your landlord, he can get the shed supply corrected before getting the EICR done, so no panic.

As to power for email how much power in required? I use a 150 watt inverter and old battery plus a 250 watt inverter built into car starting unit, but emergency supplies.

The tablet would run for at least 8 hours with the little EE wireless router, so I know as long as charged before it started I could keep going.

For a business rather than pleasure, maybe having a back up is the best plan?

I have not measured the power used by standard router, the battery starter unit is 12 Ah so suspect it could run router with broadband for around 8 hours.

 

[winston1]

Curb your imagination. It was like that when the landlord bought the house, one week before we moved in, therefore it points to the previous owner.

It is still the landlords and up to him to fix it.

I'll have a go at it over the weekend and see if I can either get the full panel down without too much damage to the surrounding area or make the aperture larger and fit new doors.

If you want to fix it you need to ask permission then.

 

[winston1]

I have a suspicion that despite the cable sizes there should still only be one spur off the house socket. Is that correct?

Not correct. Two spurs can come from the same point.

 

[JohnW2]

No, but if there is only one 2.5mm² cable going to the two SWA cables then it is one spur with too much connected to it.

Have we not been told that it is 3 x 10mm² singles, which is rather different from "one 2.5mm² cable" (and, presumably, more than adequate)?

Kind Regards, John

 

[EFLImpudence]

Ah, yes, sorry, my mistake.

I initially replied with just a "No" and then thought I had better qualify that and must have got confused.

 

[conny]

Have we not been told that it is 3 x 10mm² singles, which is rather different from "one 2.5mm² cable" (and, presumably, more than adequate)?

Kind Regards, John

Ah, yes, sorry, my mistake.

I initially replied with just a "No" and then thought I had better qualify that and must have got confused.

So are you chaps saying it should be ok as it is?

 

[EFLImpudence]

Yes. Maybe electrically, but depending how it is done, it might not be ideal.

Are the singles just going through the wall unprotected?

What circuit is the socket on?
A ring would mean 2 x 2.5mm² and the 10mm² in the terminals - bit of a squeeze?

 

[conny]

It looks as though there is a piece of conduit going through the wall and the circuit is one of the downstairs rings on a 32A MCB.

 

[ericmark]

Not correct. Two spurs can come from the same point.

The idea is three wires can grip OK in a single terminal but four wires can leave one not gripped, so with some units you can take two spurs as the device has multi terminals, or it is a radial not ring, with the ring consideration must be given to overload if close to the consumer unit, in centre of ring the MCB will protect but close to CU to stop overloading one leg the norm is to connect direct to the MCB so that has three wires in it.

The problem is the regulations don't stipulate how many wires per terminal, it is down to the skill of the installer, in the appendix it says "The load current in any part of the circuit should be unlikely to exceed for long periods the current-carrying capacity of the cable" which is linked to not exceeding 2kW for fixed appliance, I would not have actually called an out building an appliance, but it is clearly fixed, and could result in a load over 2kW.

Be we have not looked at the problem in relation to the tenant before, we have looked at it from the Landlords point of view, so for the tenant he wants as little disruption as possible and work done when it suits him, rather than a panic to fix in 28 days, so main point is to inform the Landlord you think the installation will get an unsatisfactory report and suggest an informal visit by an electrician and list the work likely to be required and arrange a schedule of repairs and up grades that suit all parties rather than being limited to 28 days.

 

[conny]

I'll speak to the landlord today and let him know my concerns.
Thanks for all the replies guys.

 

[conny]

Had a chat with the landlord today and he said wait until the test has been done and if anything needs doing he will get it done.
No sense in doing something that doesn't need doing and if things do need doing then may as well do them all at the same time.
I do have permission to take down the panel if needs be and he will pay for any work that needs to be done to rectify it.

 

[securespark]

Am I doing my usual misunderstanding?
Are there two cables spurred off that socket feeding two separate outbuildings with several items of equipment in each?